Extension Meetings

Unit 7 Extension Council Minutes from March 20, 2012

Tuesday March 20, 2012 • 6:00 PM

This meeting has passed.

Unit 7 Extension Council Minutes Form

The regular meeting of the Unit 7 (Henry, Mercer, Rock
Island, & Stark Counties) Extension Council was called to order by Gary
Goodwin on Tuesday, March 20, 2012, at 6:00pm, at the Mercer County Extension
Office, Aledo, in the conference room.

Those in attendance were:

Jake Anderson

Adrian Blackwell

Terri Davies

Annette Ernst

Gary Goodwin

Bob Mueller

Kim Sheese

Gary Smith

Alice Webster

Others
attending were:

Tony
Franklin

Jenny Garner

Liz Haynes

Public Comments: n/a

Minutes: The minutes of the last meeting were approved as read with a motion made
by Jake Anderson; seconded by Terri Davies with the following corrections -
remove Becky Buckrop and Cheryl Geitner from the "In Attendance" section.

Fiscal Reports:

Reports were
reviewed. Discussion included
understanding the breakdown of the line item "Non-Matching Other," which
includes the General Revenue fund (GRF), Smith Lever Fund, Youth Development
IDOA, and Self Supporting Funds. Also,
we discussed the fact that the money represents funds that were from 2011 that
weren't received until 2012. The
carry-over funds were the only thing that provided money for expenses until
those funds are received from the state.

Expenses are
at only 45% of our budget which is good – normally at this point in our fiscal
calendar we would be at 58% of our budget so we are on track and below budget
on expenses.

Council Member Reports & Comments

Jenny Garner
reported on the Extension Advisory Committee meeting on Community Leadership
and Organizational Development council meeting to be held on April 16 at 3 p.m.
via Telenet.

Our committee
make-up is as follows:

Patrick Burke, City of Moline

Annette Ernst, Village of Milan

Barbara Chiles, Mercer County School Board

Mary Grant, Grant Consulting, Cambridge

David Harris, Black Hawk College East Campus

Don Henry, TIE Grant Administrator and
Consultant, Small Business Development Center at Black Hawk College

Kim Sheese, Mercer County School District

Bob Mueller, Stark County Economic Development
Partnership

Cheryl Salley, Deere and Company, Moline

Staff Reports:

Staff
reports were reviewed. Liz Haynes
reported that she would be leaving shortly as she has accepted a position in
Colorado. Jenny Garner reported that the
Fast Pitch trial run went wonderfully and they are looking forward to their
next event. Tony Franklin reported that
we have very strong numbers regarding participation in the Ag in the Classroom
program. Please see the staff reports handout which provides detailed
information on all programs.

Other Reports & Announcements:

The Regional office in East Moline will close at the
end of the month and Unit 7 will become part of Region #2. There are three regions statewide.

Old Business:

Tony Franklin discussed Council recruitment. The following council member's terms end in
August:

Terri
Davies

Gary
Goodwin

David
Harris

Sherry
Holmstrom

Kim Sheese

Cheryl
Salley

Stan Boruff

The Metro Educator position closes on March 29; this
position focuses on youth engagement, science literacy, and community
gardens. The position is fully grant
funded for three years.

New Business:

Jenny
Garner – handed out brochures on the following programs:

CED Team – Community
and Economic Development working with people to improve the quality of life in
Illinois.

Engaging
Generations – is a curriculum designed to engage the generational areas
– addresses the different generations and how to work with and identify the
different motivations of these generations in the workplace.

Nutritional
Wellness/Small Farms / local foods educator:

There are a
lot of calls coming in on Nutritional Wellness but no one to handle those
calls. Tony says he feels he can cover
Small Farms/Local Foods questions with some other staffing resources. Terri said there is a new cottage food law
that impacts farmers markets – Tony says extension doesn't have leadership on
the farmers market they just supply support of content, but not to be a
coordinator of the event. Extension does
not endorse the Milan farmers market – they just offer educational
assistance. Rock Island Health Department
is working with that market to try to make it easier for them to sell their products.

A visit by
Dr. Hoeft to Unit 7 Region 2 has been scheduled. He will visit June 19-20, 2012 to talk with
people regarding Extension and their services.
He will be at our June 19 meeting in Woodhull.

Blackhawk
East open house went very well; Bob Mueller reported – very well attended.

Next meeting scheduled (date, time, and location) June 19, 2012, 6 p.m. at Woodhull Town
Hall in Woodhull.

Adjournment:

There being
no further business to come before the meeting, a motion was made by Bob
Mueller with a second by Adrian Blackwell that the meeting be adjourned. Motion
passed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 p.m.